The invention relates to a method for the transmitter- and receiver-side processing of information, which is transmitted or received by way of a plurality of antenna elements. The invention also relates to devices for implementing the method.
In radio communication systems messages, for example containing voice information, image information, video information, SMS (Short Message Service), MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service) or other data, are transmitted with the aid of electromagnetic waves by way of a radio interface between the sending and receiving stations. Depending on the specific configuration of the radio communication system, the stations here can be different types of subscriber-side radio stations or network-side radio facilities, such as repeaters, radio access points or base stations. In a mobile radio communication system at least some of the subscriber-side radio stations are mobile radio stations. The electromagnetic waves are transmitted at carrier frequencies, which are within the frequency band provided for the respective system.
Mobile radio communication systems are often configured as cellular systems, for example according to the GSM (Global System for Mobile communication) or UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) standard, with a network including example of base stations, facilities for monitoring and controlling the base stations and further network-side facilities. In addition to these cellular, hierarchical radio networks organized over long distances (supralocal), there are also wireless local networks (WLANs) with a generally spatially significantly more restricted radio coverage area. Examples of different standards for WLANs include HiperLAN, DECT, IEEE 802.11, Bluetooth and WATM.
Access by radio stations to the common transmission medium is regulated in radio communication systems by multiple access (MA) or multiplex methods. With such multiple access the transmission medium can be allocated among the radio stations in the time range (Time Division Multiple Access, TDMA), the frequency range (Frequency Division Multiple Access, FDMA), the code range (Code Division Multiple Access, CDMA) or the space range (Space Division Multiple Access, SDMA). Combinations of multiple access methods are also possible, such as for example the combination of a frequency division multiple access method with a code division multiple access method.
For efficient utilization of the scant radio resources available it is advantageous if radio stations, in particular network-side radio stations, use a plurality of antenna elements to send and/or receive messages. This allows the antenna beam to be deflected in the direction of the receiver(s) in the transmit direction, thereby reducing interference. In the receive direction the use of a plurality of antenna elements means that signals coming from a specific direction can be analyzed specifically and other signals can be masked out.